Marine gunnery sergeant jailed 90 days for adultery

San Diego 
A married gunnery sergeant pleaded guilty Tuesday to adultery after having sex with the widow of a fellow Marine who had died in Afghanistan three weeks before.

A panel of two officers and six enlisted Marines sentenced Stephen Kuehler, 30, a recruiter in suburban St. Louis, to 90 days in prison during a court-martial at Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego. The trial was held at the base because it is the regional headquarters for St. Louis-based recruiters.

Kuehler had recruited Pfc. Michael Patton when the teenager was still in high school. Patton joined the Marine Corps shortly after graduating in spring 2007 and married his high school sweetheart, Amy, after finishing boot camp in San Diego that summer.

Patton deployed with his unit to Afghanistan last April. He and three other Marines were killed June 14 when a roadside bomb blew up their Humvee.

On Tuesday, Amy Patton testified that even though she had met Kuehler only once, she promptly called him because her husband had respected the recruiter so much.

Kuehler attended Michael Patton's funeral. In the next few weeks, Amy Patton said, Kuehler took her to work out in the gym of the church they both attended and to the movies along with other Marines.

“He was very helpful,” she testified. “I considered him kind of a big-brother type.”

On July 4th, Amy Patton's mother invited Kuehler to join her family for a barbecue because his wife and children were out of town. Afterward, Kuehler took Amy to see a fireworks display in nearby Festus.

She said she didn't want to go home, so Kuehler invited her over to his house. She drank half a beer, a few sips of wine and some tequila while they watched television.

The alcohol made her drunk, she said, because of a prescription antidepressant she was taking. Kuehler invited her into the bedroom, where he had lighted two candles, and they had sex. Then he took her home.

In August, Amy Patton said, she told her mother about the encounter and reported it to the Marine Corps. About the same time, Kuehler confessed his indiscretion to his wife and chain of command. He has continued to work for the recruiting district, though not directly with potential recruits, said his supervisor, Sgt. Maj. Anthony Banks.

Kuehler's lawyer, David Ahn, said his client was grieving over Patton's death. “He tried to comfort the wife and the family. They got a little bit too close,” Ahn said. “He made a mistake.”

But the prosecutor, Capt. Tyler Hart, said Kuehler's conduct was more than an accidental error.

“He betrayed Amy Patton, her trust, the trust of her family,” Hart said. “Most of all, he betrayed the trust of a fellow Marine.”